The coronavirus pandemic didn't just infect lungs. It exposed systems, broke illusions, and pulled entire societies inside out.

While the world talked numbers—of cases, of deaths—behind every digit was a story. Behind every mask was a face. Behind every face, a quiet war.

This book walks through those war zones. Some are from India: the child pulling her injured father on a bicycle; the Muslim man giving a Hindu stranger his final rites; the leader denying masks while the poor dug graves. Others hail from Germany, Bhutan, Vietnam, Pakistan, the UK, the U.S.—each one shaped by culture but bound by a common enemy.

These are not perfect stories. But they are true.

Read slowly. Let them settle. This book is a memorial.